


Of Dreams and Denial

by SabbyStarlight



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 5x05 tag, Angst, Because I needed something super soft to let me pretend that it didn't happen, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Except it's all just a bad dream, Fluff, Gen, Jack Dalton lives, Kinda, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabbyStarlight/pseuds/SabbyStarlight
Summary: And there it is.  Proof.  The evidence that Mac's brain was needing that he really isn't gone.  Facts.  Mac has always loved facts but somehow, he thinks this might be his favorite:  Jack is alive.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	Of Dreams and Denial

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for tuning in to our thrilling new installment of How Are You Coping With Friday's Episode! Does anyone want to guess who today's special guest is? That's right, folks! It's Denial! And she's here to tell us all about her upcoming project, Jack Dalton Is Alive! 

Jack's bedroom is dark. No streetlight is strong enough to pierce through the blackout curtains he has hanging. They're pretty much a necessary requirement in their line of work-one of the first things Jack had instructed Mac to buy for himself when they joined DXS-but tonight Mac hates them. They make it too difficult to see, to follow the steady rise and fall of his partner's chest and Mac feels like his own chest is going to cave in without that reassurance that Jack is fine. That he's breathing. Safe and sound, sleeping peacefully in his own bed. Unaware of the red-rimmed blue eyes watching him.

He sucks in another breath, hoping the sob he has been choking back ever since he woke up won't escape on the exhale. He shouldn't have driven like this. Isn't sure how he made it from his house to Jack's without causing an accident. But despite the fact that he had driven all the way there in the middle of the night and let himself in using his key, the last thing he wants is to wake Jack up. To bother him. To become the burden Jack has wasted so much time assuring him he isn't. He must not be as quiet as he was hoping to be, because Jack stirs in his sleep.

And there it is. Proof. The evidence that Mac's brain was needing that he really isn't gone. Facts. Mac has always loved facts but somehow, he thinks this might be his favorite: Jack is alive.

The sob he had been trying so hard to contain slips free and he clamps a hand over his mouth but it isn't enough. Jack wakes at the sound, though anyone who hadn't been watching him as closely as Mac was wouldn't have noticed a change.

Until Jack speaks.

"Whoever you are," Jack speaks clearly, already sounding wide awake and threatening in the dark of the room. "You better rethink whatever you're plannin' real quick. There are six weapons within my reach right now and I guarantee you I can kill you with any of 'em faster than you'd get off a single shot. And that’s not countin' what I could do with the lamp."

"It's just me, Jack" Mac says with a shaky smile. "Sorry."

"Oh," The tension in the room, radiating from the singular source that was a threatened Jack Dalton, instantly disappears. It doesn't even cross his mind to ask Mac what he's doing there, breaking into his apartment in the middle of the night to watch him sleep. His first response, as always, is to make sure his kid is okay. "You alright?" He finally pulls his eyes open, lifting his head off the pillow enough to squint at Mac in the barely-there blue light emitting from his alarm clock. "It's late."

"Not really," Mac admits, a trembling hand reaching up to swipe at his eyes. "I'll be okay though. Didn't mean to wake you."

He can't see it, it's still too dark, but Mac can feel Jack's displeased frown. There isn't anything he hates more than something he can't keep from hurting his boy and as much as he has tried, he's afraid they are facing the one thing he's found that he can't scare off. "Nightmare?" He asks softly, not wanting to press too far if Mac isn't ready to face it yet.

"Yeah," Mac confirms, staring down at his untied sneakers. "Yeah, a bad one."

"Need to talk it out?"

Mac shakes his head vehemently, messy blonde hair sliding even more out of place.

"Okay, you want me to get up?" Jack offers, rising to his elbows, ready to jump into action at the first sign that it's what Mac needs. "Throw together an early breakfast? We can watch a movie or two?"

Mac shakes his head, but that offer is closer to what he needs than the first one was and Jack keeps trying.

"Or we can go for a drive," He suggests. "Not much traffic this time of night, even here in LA. Windows down in the GTO-" he begins but cuts off when he sees Mac flinch. "Aw, kid," he sighs. "You didn't say it was _the_ bad one."

"It's fine," Mac lies, squaring his shoulders and trying to look the part. "I'm fine. I just needed to know that you are too."

"Crawl on in here," Jack instructs, lifting the corner of his blanket and nodding for Mac to join him. "Check for yourself."

Mac sniffles, wiping at his eyes one final time and cracking a genuine smile. "That sounds so weird, Jack."

"No weirder than you watchin' me sleep," Jack counters as if he hasn't done the exact same thing to Mac more times than either of them could count. "C'mon. You're lettin' all the warm out."

"I'm not the one holding the blanket open," Mac argues as he steps out of his shoes and crosses the room in a few quick strides, burrowing beneath the covers next to Jack, who only grins and tucks him in closer.

"It wasn't real," he murmurs softly, cheek pressed against blonde hair after Mac settles in, head on Jack's shoulder and hand resting on Jack's chest. "Just a nightmare."

"I know," Mac says, and Jack can feel the tension slowly abating. "Feels real though. Every time."

"I know you said you didn't wanna talk about it," Jack starts slowly, cautiously. "And that's fine. You don't gotta. But I do. And no matter how real it feels, it ain't. C'mon man, Riley getting the GTO? That car's yours when it finally is my time, you know that. She gets the Shelby."

He can feel Mac smile through the fabric of his shirt and Jack knows he's on the right track.

"That's the least scary thing about that dream and you know it," Mac reminds him, not for the first time. "Which one of us gets which car? That doesn't matter. Especially if it means we lose you."

"I don't know," Jack is teasing. Mostly. "The car I rebuilt with my pops not bein' handed down to my boy? That seems pretty terrifying to me."

"You wouldn't say that if you had just thought I died in a massive explosion," Mac shudders and Jack can't help but pull him closer, throwing a metaphorical middle finger up to whoever had decided there was such a thing as boundaries and pressing a kiss to the top of his kid's head to prove them wrong.

"It was an explosion this time, huh?" Jack asks softly. "That's what did me in?"

"And I wasn't there."

"Well now, that's just dumb." Jack ignores the pang of fear those simple words send through his own heart, the what-ifs of a worst-case scenario adding themselves to his own nightmare fuel, but he keeps his breathing steady and gently asks "What's our rule, bud? What do I always tell ya?"

"Don't squat with your spurs on?"

"Well," Jack snorts a laugh. "Yeah, that too. But the other thing."

"You go kaboom, I go kaboom," Mac says, voice barely more than a whisper in the darkness, knowing exactly what rule Jack is talking about.

"That's right," Jack praises, always taking whatever opportunity he can find to give his kid a little encouragement, knowing he missed out on that in his formative years. "You go kaboom, I go kaboom. I'm right here, buddy. Ain't goin' nowhere."

Mac nods, Jack's heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath his palm. "I just needed to make sure. I'm okay now. I can go-"

"Nope," Jack cuts him off easily, interrupting what he had no doubt was going to turn into Mac convincing himself that showing up at Jack's apartment was a bad idea. "Not happening. You're here, you're staying. 'Sides, someone's gotta be around to chase off those nightmares if they come callin' again."

"They won't," Mac assures him, already almost asleep. "Not if you're here."

"That's the plan, kid," Jack smiles and pulls him closer for a moment. "Right where I'm supposed to be."

Mac's voice breaks through the silence long after Jack had thought he was already asleep. " 'M sorry I didn't answer."

"What's that, now?"

"In my dream," Mac explains, voice muffled into Jack's chest, barely discernible. "You called. Right before... it... happened. But I didn't answer. 'M sorry."

"Wasn't real, kiddo," Jack reminds him again, rubbing a soothing hand up and down Mac's back, trying to lull him into the peaceful state he hoped sleep would bring him this time.

"I know," The hand Mac had pressed against Jack's heart shifts, sliding over until Mac, soft and compliant, walls down, has his arm hitched around Jack's middle, settling in and committing to spending the rest of the night as close to Jack as he can get. "Just needed to say sorry."

"Tell you what," Jack begins, choosing his words carefully. "I'll forgive you for it as long as you forgive yourself for it. That sound fair to you?"

"Mhmm," Mac mumbles contently before finally falling asleep.

Jack waits, tracking each breath that passes Mac's lips, making sure he's really and truly out for the count before deciding that it's safe enough, that the impending crisis of Mac's own mind betraying him had been handled, for him to go back to sleep as well. Once he's sure, it takes hardly any time for him to fall back asleep with his boy at his side, knowing that everything was going to be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> That's all for today, folks. But don't forget to tune in later this week for a special visit from Denial's costar, Anger when he stops by to give us his take on their project. And as a super special treat, he's going to show us how to whip up his favorite dish, a Fix-It Fic! Spoiler alert: It's a little salty. Thanks for watching, we'll see you soon!


End file.
